Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Birth of Jodimitts

So yesterday was a whirlwind of Baker's Dozen entries, with all 100 slots filling up several hours before the closing time.  Last night Jodi and I spent our first Slushtime together (always fun!), and tomorrow's round two of adult submissions--so today is going to be chill-out-and-look-at-mitt-photos day.

Because you all know that jodimitts are almost the only thing that keeps me writing during the winter.

This story begins with a tragedy:  My original jodimitts died.  As in, DIED.


*moment of silence*

I did not beg, whine, cajole, or sob at Jodi.  She simply announced that she intended to knit me a new pair of mitts. "I'll let you pick out the yarn!" she piped.

(Isn't it awesome how we can get away with using stupid dialogue tags when we're blogging? It's a great way to get it out of our systems so the words don't show up in our novels.)

So she sent me a picture of her Yarn Closet (yes, it deserves to be capitalized) and told me to mark my 5 favorites.  Which I did.



A few minutes later, she sent me this picture and asked which one I like better.  (I'm not sure how she narrowed it down, but you can see that they're both absolutely luscious.)  I fell in love with the one on the right!  Here's the cool part:  the yarn is a mixture of wool and seacell, which is made from seaweed fiber.  Of course, when she told me that, I loved the yarn even more, because it meant that I'd have MERMAID MITTS.


 The other wonderful part about this yarn is that Jodi spun it herself.  For the uninitiated:  This means that Jodi bought the yarn fiber (all soft and fluffy and cloud-like) and spun it by hand into the yarn you see here.  She uses a small, handheld spindle, and--well, it's amazing.  The picture at left is my beautiful yarn all rolled into a ball, ready for knitting.

So maybe I put this picture on my desktop while Jodi was making my mitts.  Not that I was counting the seconds to my new jodimitts or anything.








Because Jodi is a master at TENSION and ANTICIPATION (which you already know if you've ever read her books!), she sent me the following picture a few days later.  Sort of a mitt ultrasound:



I stared at that for a while and felt grateful that the temperature had warmed and I wasn't in dire need of the mitts.  Not that I wasn't twitching every time I glanced at the picture, anyway.  Jodi had let me choose the pattern for the mitt, so I was excited to see it coming to life beneath her needles.  So beautiful already!

The Big Reveal happened on her blog.  She slyly left the link in my IM box and waited for me to squeal at her when I saw the photo below.  (Yes, of course I squealed.)



And there you have it--my beautiful new jodimitts!  There is nothing as precious as a heartfelt, handmade gift from someone who loves you--and who knows the pleasure this simple-yet-not-simple gift will bring.  (I mean, yes; warm mitts are a simple pleasure.  But spinning and knitting a pair by hand is NOTHING CLOSE TO SIMPLE.)

Naturally, you want to see me wearing them.  So I offer you Authoress In Winter Hat With Mitts:



All set for cold weather.  Bring it on, Winter!  In my jodimitts, I can conquer the world.  (Or at least these revisions, which have been biting my butt this week.)

Best part?  It's like wearing a piece of Jodi's heart every day.  And that's a true gift!  Thank you, Jodi, for the mitts and for your friendship.  Unlike the mitts, you are utterly irreplaceable!

31 comments:

  1. Does Jodi sell her mitts on etsy or something? I want a pair! :)

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  2. Mermaid mitts -- so cool! The colors are lovely, too.

    What an amazing gift from an amazing friend. : )

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  3. LOVE the mermaid mitts!! One of the AMAZING things I am finding as I'm starting this new journey of writing...is the camaraderie of authors! ok...cheesy comment here...wait for it.....Authors are a close-knit group!haha I couldn't help myself!! But honestly, It seems like most are so helpful and encouraging. The lifelong friends I'm making already is so valuable to me!

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  4. I too have a pair of Jodi Mitts (I won her VERY last Incarnate pair) and use them ALL THE TIME when writing. they're so perfect :) And PRETTY!

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  5. Those are absolutely gorgeous! Jodi is amazing! Hope they keep your fingers nice and toasty :)

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  6. I need to confess that I am coveting those right now. Mea culpa.

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  7. They're beautiful! DOES she have an etsy? B/c must have! :)

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  8. Oh, how very cool! And the mitts are awesome too. :)

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  9. Pretty Jodi mitts! Such gorgeous handspun. I'm rather drooling over Jodi's yarn stash.

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  10. Awesome Jodi Mitts...and lovely rock too! Woo! ;-)

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  11. As sad as this may be, Jodi does not sell her mitts, and I have long given up trying to talk her into it! The thing is, it takes TIME. And Jodi needs most of hers for writing. (She tells me that she works out plot problems while she's spinning...I just can't...I mean...)

    So, yeah. She enjoys knitting for herself and for friends and for occasional fun giveaways (I'll bet there will be more of those!), but she doesn't feel like she has the time it would take to invest in an actual online business.

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  13. They're beautiful! This post made me smile.

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  14. They are so beautiful! And come from the heart, which is always the best gift.

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  15. Love those! And I drooled over that yarn closet. I have, like, a yarn sack. That's all.

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  16. I've been obsessed with fingerless gloves ever since my husband asked me to buy him some cheapie stretch gloves and he cut off all the fingers. Now they're so much easier to find in stores, but a HOMEMADE KNIT PAIR--those are a keeper. A friend of mine knit some for us with some really swanky Buffy-themed yarn (the color was Spike related). I wear them all winter.

    I have some pretty cool arm warmers that I bought at the Ren Faire this year. You can pull them down like fingerless gloves plus it adds an extra sleeve layer for those of us in cold winter places.

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  17. Oooo Stephsco, I'll bet your arm warmers are wonderful! I love them. I wish I had a pair for ballet class!!

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  18. Mermaid mitts! Of course, that is awesome. :-)

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  19. I've been wanting fingerless mittens for a while. A friend of mine knits though, and I got her to teach me how, so I'm in the middle of making my own. It'll be my nano non-writing thing to do when my brain is dead from writing :P

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  20. Oh, oh! I'd recognize that face anywhere. But, shush, I won't tell.

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  21. Well, these are a whole lot nicer than the OVEN mitts I wear when I write. Of course, the oven mitts keep me from hitting 'send' prematurely.

    Love the story and the obvious friendship of the Jodimitts.

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  22. Beautiful mitts, with a beautiful story behind them. I love gifts with meaning! :)

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  23. They are very pretty. I loved all that anticipation for a pair of fingerless gloves.
    And I like your winter hat.

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  24. Love Jodi's mitts! She's so talented!

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  25. Thank you, Kristen -- I've just gotten brave enough in the past year or so to actually wear hats. I love my winter hat, too!

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  26. I was going to mention the hat- I think it's darling! I'm a huge hat freak, which comes from having curly hair and living in a damp environment, not to mention a love of vintage styles. I think I was a milliner in a former life.

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  27. In which case, you are, apparently, mad. All that mercury and everything. ;-) (I still can't figure out why one needs mercury to make a hat...)

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  28. And I just thought it was PMS!

    Although one could argue that trying to be writer could make anyone crazy! :)

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  29. Love the mermaid mitts! Great color and yarn. And one of a kind so highly valuable too!

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